Switch post-study to EEA2 after dutch registered partnership

[jve]

Hi all,

I am an Indonesian girl that has been living in the UK for almost 3 years and I am currently on a post study work visa. My boyfriend is a Dutch citizen and is working here full time. So we are both already living in the UK.

We have been together for about a year now and decided to take the relationship a step further by getting a Dutch registered partnership (We don't want to get married straight away since we would like to save money for the wedding as well as getting both our families together (My parents live in Indonesia, my sister in the Netherlands, my partner's parents moved to South Africa and his sisters live in France)). We have a joined bank account and are moving in together and would like to make our relationship "official" for the law as well while waiting and saving until we get married.

Since both of us have more relational ties with the Netherlands it seemed for us a better option to do this in the Netherlands and the civil partnership in the UK is not for straight couples like us.

After signing the registered partnership we would like to apply for an EEA2 residence card for me so I can continue living with my partner as well as work here in the UK.

We are now wondering if the registered/civil partnership would be valid to apply for an EEA2 and is my status one of a married/civil partner or do we then fall under the unmarried partners?

The EEA2 seems the right solution for us as far as we can see. Is this indeed the right solution or is there a better option for this?

Since I am currently on a PSW visa I am allowed to apply for EEA2 straight away as well? There is no need for my partner to get a Family Permit visa first?

If anybody went through something similar or has any information or phone numbers we could call to get more information would be great!!

Thanks in advance!!

[jve]

Hi all,

As far as we can tell it would be recognized but does anybody have any experience with male/female registered partnerships and getting them recognized in the UK?

Sorry for the long post ahead:

according to this it should be recognized:
http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2008/04 ... ly-member/
(taken from here: http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... light=pacs)

When looking at the following pdf's the Dutch registered partnership is recognised but they seem to contradict each other yet both are on the homeoffice's website.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... ership.pdf

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... annexh.pdf

First link says this:

Forming a civil partnership outside the UK
2.1 Section 210 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 enables provision to be made for two people to register as civil partners of each other in prescribed countries or territories outside the UK in the presence of a prescribed officer of HM Diplomatic Service. The conditions under which registration may take place are set out in articles 3 to 10 of the Civil Partnership (Registration Abroad and Certificates) Order 2005/No.2761. Article 13 of the Order allows the Secretary of State, in special cases, to dispense with certain formal requirements.

3.Foreign same-sex relationships which are to be treated as civil partnerships
3.1 Some same-sex couples may have already secured legal recognition of their relationship outside the United Kingdom. A same-sex relationship which has been recognised in this way will in certain circumstances be treated as a civil partnership under the 2004 Act.

3.2 A list of overseas-recognised same-sex relationships which are to be treated as civil partnerships is given below

3.3


and further down the page:

Civil Partner
The legal status of the two people who have registered as each other’s civil partner- in the same way that a spouse is used to describe both each member of the married couple.

Civil Partnership
The legal relationship existing between two civil partners


The second link says the following:

FOREIGN CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS
Some people may have already formed a civil partnership or had a same sex
marriage abroad. In certain cases this relationship will be recognised in the UK
as a civil partnership and the partners will be treated as if they had formed the
civil partnership in the UK. Schedule 20 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 sets out
a list of recognised foreign civil partnerships, as below:

If an overseas relationship is not included in the list above it will still be
recognised here if it meets certain conditions. Section 214 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 refers. Under the law of the country where the relationship was formed
the relationship must:
(i) be exclusive in nature,
(ii) be indeterminate in duration; and
(iii) result in the parties to the relationship being regarded as a couple or treated as married.

Civil partner
The legal status of the two people who have registered as each other’s civil partner- in the same way that a spouse is used to describe each member of a married couple.

Civil partnership
The legal relationship existing between two same sex partners

As you can see the second one for civil Partnership doesn't make a distinction between same-sex and opposite sex but does make a difference when talking about Civil Partnership where the first one mentions same-sex marriage to refer to civil partnership but in the definition of civil partnership it doesn't mention anything about same-sex.

Anybody has any ideas?
Thanks!

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Somebody else on this forum had a male/female civil partnership. Forgetting exactly where. Search and you shall find!

[fysicus]

From a legal point of view a Dutch registered partnership is exactly the same as a marriage, except in name. Therefore it clearly meets the conditions from Section 214 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, as jve quotes earlier in this thread. Like a marriage, it is available to both mixed-gender as well as same-gender couples. However, many people attach a different emotional value to it.

As you are already in the UK, you can submit the EEA2 application straightaway once you have the international version of your partnership certificate (which besides Dutch has translations in English, German and French, and can be obtained from the municipality where you had the partnership ceremony). An EEA Family Permit is only needed by visa nationals to enter the UK, which in your case is not necessary.

[jve]

Thanks for the info guys.

Over the last couple of days we have heard several different stories where certain people say it is valid, others it isn't and a third say it is valid but when applying for the EEA2 or FP you might have to deal with appeals the main reason being what fysicus mentions:

However, many people attach a different emotional value to it.

and this can push people to think that it is a convenience partnership.

We ended up deciding to get married next year as initially planned and not bother with the registered partnership before our marriage.

Comes the next question, of getting married in the UK or in The Netherlands but this is yet another story .

Thanks to fysicus and Directive/2004/38/EC for their help.

[fysicus]

Given that you initially wanted this registered partnership under Dutch law, it is probably more convenient to marry in the Netherlands, even though your relatives are scattered around the world. You can do this anywhere in the Netherlands, but you will need to contact the gemeente Den Haag (Landelijke Taken) well in advance to get the ball rolling.